The Files app can mark up a PDF: draw on it, add a signature, type a little text in a box. What it can’t do is change the text that’s already there, like a wrong date in a letter or a typo in an invoice. Apps that can usually want an account and a subscription.
Safari can do it, though.
Open the PDF
- Make sure the PDF is in Files. From Mail, touch and hold the attachment and choose Save to Files. From WhatsApp or Telegram, use Share, then Save to Files.
- Open the editor in Safari and tap Choose a PDF.
- Pick the file from Recents or Browse.
Change the text
- Tap Edit text in the tools.
- Tap the paragraph you want to change. The keyboard opens.
- Type. Lines wrap as you go, in the document’s own font.
- Tap outside the paragraph to finish it.
To make a word bold, bigger or another font, select it and use the text controls in the bar.
If the PDF is a scan, the first tap reads the page. It takes a few seconds, and then the line opens for editing like any other.
Sign, highlight, fill in
- Sign: draw your signature with a finger, then tap where it goes. Turn the phone sideways for a wider box.
- Highlight: pick it and drag across the text with a finger.
- Forms: tap a field and type, then tap the next one.
- Pages: rotate, delete or reorder pages, or add another PDF.
Save it
Tap Download. Safari asks to download the file, and the PDF lands in Files › Downloads. From there you can share it, attach it to a reply, or move it to iCloud Drive.
If the page reloads
Reloading the page doesn’t lose your work: the PDF opens again, with your changes, until you go back to the start page.
It stays on your phone
The PDF is opened and edited by Safari itself. Nothing is uploaded, which matters on a phone, where the files you edit tend to be contracts, IDs and bank statements. It works the same on an iPad, and in Chrome on Android.